By Andrew Getty
Do building codes concern themselves with how you gain access to dwellings and establishments?
To a certain degree, yes…the codes care how you get in; mostly for handicap accessibility issues.
What the code really emphasizes is how you can get out of a building.
The two most important things of any building are early detection & warning, and the ability to get out and away from the building.
For obvious reasons places of public assemblies, as compared to a single family dwelling, have much higher standards to meet.
The larger the assembly area, especially where alcohol and loud music is present, the more critical the exit strategy is.
Not to minimize the importance of good exits for a single family dwelling, public assemblies by their very nature can be much more hazardous in the event of an emergency.
Drinking, dancing, music, all the commotion… people rarely pay much attention to exits, how to get to them, where they lead to.
Usually most people are very familiar with their house. Most of us can walk around the house in the dark, as long as the kids don’t play games and move the furniture around.
On the surface the basic requirements for a house seem simple.
For detection and exiting, smoke detectors with alarms and at least one three foot wide, hinged exterior door leading directly to grade are required.
Sure, there are lots and lots of other codes for all kinds of things, but these two concepts are the most fundamental fire safety rules.
For public assemblies, as the area gets bigger and the number of potential occupants increase, the fire safety and exiting requirements increase as well.
Small public assemblies of fifty people or less including staff, at grade, may have only one exit. The exit door can even swing in.
For fifty to one-hundred people, again including the staff, two remote exits are required, they should swing out and a fire detection and alarm system is required.
For assemblies over one-hundred people, a fire alarm, audible and visual and a complete NFPA compliant fire sprinkler suppression system is required.
In either case, the single family dwelling or the public assembly, these are the basic, fundamental standards.
What’s not described here are all the standards, specs, codes and requirements that lead up to compliant exits or alarm systems.
Everything that leads to an exit is part of the “exit way.”
Stairs, handrails, hallways, corridors, other interior doors, the wiring required for the alarms, the plumbing & piping required for sprinklers, the water source, monitoring valves, locations and types of sprinkler heads, heat or smoke detector locations, concealed areas in attics or crawl spaces…
These are just a few of all the things that go into compliant exits or fire safety systems… the list is huge.
The exit way also includes the path needed to get away from the building to a common public area that is completely accessible for emergency responders.
So yes, those sidewalks need to be clear of snow, every exit shall be maintained.
In the house, bedrooms require at least one compliant emergency egress and recue window… have you ever checked to see if the area below that window is clear and accessible?
Or is that pile of old concrete blocks, boards with nails sticking out of them or other debris is in the way?
The ability to get out cannot be stressed enough, for any building; especially public assemblies.
Are the exit lights working, the doors open all the way, are the interior hallways and the exterior paths clear and maintained?
Are the fire alarm pull stations clear? Is anything hanging from the sprinkler system?
Is the system even turned on? Have all the annual local and third party inspections be done? Are there records of the inspections?
So much goes into the idea of early detection & warning as well as the ability to get out.
That’s why there are literally thousands of pages of code standards and reference materials.
Imagine that, all the codes actually do care about you.